App Center Retirement: Where to Migrate Your App Distribution

Visual Studio App Center officially retired in March 2025. If you're reading this, you're likely one of the many mobile teams that relied on App Center for build distribution, crash reporting, analytics, or CI/CD — and now you need somewhere to go.

This isn't a post about why App Center shut down. Microsoft made its decision, and the service is gone. What this post is about is practical: what App Center gave you, what replaces each piece, and how to migrate your distribution and QA workflow to a new platform without losing momentum.

What App Center Offered (And What You Need to Replace)

App Center was a broad platform. Most teams didn't use every feature, so the first step is figuring out which pieces you actually need to replace. Here's the breakdown:

App Distribution

App Center let you upload IPA and APK files and distribute them to tester groups via email invitations and install links. It supported release notes, mandatory updates, and distribution groups for organizing testers. This is the piece most teams need to replace urgently — without distribution, your testers can't get builds.

CI/CD Build Services

App Center offered cloud-based build services that could compile your app from a connected repository. For teams that used this, you'll need to move builds to GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Azure DevOps Pipelines, CircleCI, or another CI platform. Many teams had already migrated away from App Center's build service before the shutdown, since dedicated CI platforms offered more flexibility.

Crash Reporting

App Center Crashes provided real-time crash reporting with stack traces, device info, and affected user counts. Replacement options include Firebase Crashlytics (free), Sentry, Bugsnag, or Datadog. This is a separate concern from distribution and typically handled by a dedicated monitoring tool.

Analytics

App Center Analytics tracked user sessions, events, and device demographics. Firebase Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, or PostHog can replace this. Again, this is typically handled independently from your distribution workflow.

Push Notifications

App Center Push was already retired before the full shutdown. Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and Apple Push Notification service (APNs) — often through services like OneSignal or Amazon SNS — are the standard replacements.

The Migration Priority: Distribution First

Of all the App Center features, distribution is the most time-sensitive. Your team needs to keep shipping builds to testers and stakeholders. Crash reporting and analytics can be migrated in parallel, but if testers can't install builds, your release cycle stops.

Here's what to prioritize:

1. Distribution platform — Get builds to testers immediately
2. CI/CD pipeline update — Replace the App Center upload step in your build pipeline
3. Crash reporting — Set up an alternative crash reporting service
4. Analytics — Migrate event tracking (lower urgency)

Migrating Distribution to TestApp.io

TestApp.io replaces App Center's distribution capabilities and adds the QA workflow features that App Center never had: task management, blocker tracking, version lifecycle management, release checklists, and two-way sync with project management tools (such as Jira and Linear).

Here's a step-by-step migration guide.

Step 1: Create Your Organization and Apps

Sign up at portal.testapp.io and create your organization. Add each of your mobile apps — you can set up both iOS and Android apps under the same organization, giving you a unified view of your release pipeline.

Step 2: Invite Your Team

Add your existing testers and team members. TestApp.io supports role-based access control, so you can set up the same kind of group-based permissions you had in App Center. Testers can install builds via direct link, QR code, or the TestApp.io mobile app — no more waiting for email invitations to propagate.

Step 3: Update Your CI/CD Pipeline

This is the critical step. You need to replace the App Center CLI upload command in your build pipeline with the TestApp.io ta-cli tool. Here are examples for the most common CI platforms:

GitHub Actions

- name: Upload to TestApp.io
  run: |
    curl -Ls https://github.com/testappio/cli/releases/latest/download/ta-cli-Linux-x86_64 -o ta-cli && chmod +x ta-cli
    ./ta-cli publish --api_token=${{ secrets.TESTAPPIO_API_TOKEN }} --app_id=${{ secrets.TESTAPPIO_APP_ID }} --release_notes="Build ${{ github.sha }}" --file=app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

Bitrise

- script:
    title: Upload to TestApp.io
    inputs:
    - content: |
        curl -Ls https://github.com/testappio/cli/releases/latest/download/ta-cli-Linux-x86_64 -o ta-cli && chmod +x ta-cli
        ./ta-cli publish --api_token=$TESTAPPIO_API_TOKEN --app_id=$TESTAPPIO_APP_ID --release_notes="Build $BITRISE_BUILD_NUMBER" --file=$BITRISE_APK_PATH

Fastlane

# In your Fastfile
lane :distribute do
  # Build your app first
  gradle(task: "assembleRelease")
  
  # Upload to TestApp.io
  sh("curl -Ls https://github.com/testappio/cli/releases/latest/download/ta-cli-Darwin-x86_64 -o ta-cli && chmod +x ta-cli")
  sh("./ta-cli publish --api_token=#{ENV['TESTAPPIO_API_TOKEN']} --app_id=#{ENV['TESTAPPIO_APP_ID']} --release_notes='#{last_git_commit[:message]}' --file=../app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk")
end

The ta-cli tool supports all major CI platforms including CircleCI, Jenkins, Xcode Cloud, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, Codemagic, and Travis CI. Check the help documentation for platform-specific setup guides.

TestApp.io uses chunked, resumable uploads, which means large IPA and APK files won't fail on unreliable connections — a common frustration with App Center's upload mechanism on slower CI runners.

Step 4: Set Up Notifications

App Center sent email notifications for new releases. TestApp.io goes further with Slack integration (OAuth-based, with channel selection and rich formatted messages) and Microsoft Teams support (via Power Automate with Adaptive Cards and action buttons). Configure these to keep your team informed about new builds without email noise.

Step 5: Connect Your Project Management Tools

This is where TestApp.io goes beyond what App Center ever offered. If your team uses Jira or Linear, set up the two-way real-time sync. Tasks created in TestApp.io sync to your project management tool and vice versa, with field mapping, import/migration support, and full sync history. No more copying bug reports between tools.

Step 6: Set Up Your QA Workflow

With App Center, your QA process lived entirely outside the distribution tool. TestApp.io lets you build it directly into your release workflow:

• Create QA tasks for each release using the built-in Kanban board and table view. Set priorities from Low to Blocker, assign team members, and set due dates.
• Use AI task generation to automatically create up to 15 platform-aware QA tasks from your release notes — saving time on repetitive test case creation.
• Track blockers with dedicated blocker reporting tied to specific releases. The dashboard shows blocker counts and version warnings so you know whether a build is safe to ship.
• Create playbooks — reusable release checklists based on templates for iOS App Store, TestFlight, or Google Play submissions. Mark required items that must be completed before anyone signs off.

App Center Feature Mapping

Here's a complete mapping of App Center features to their replacements:

What You Gain That App Center Never Had

Migrating from App Center isn't just about replacing what you lost. It's an opportunity to consolidate tools and streamline your release process. Here's what TestApp.io adds that App Center never offered:

Unified QA Workflow

Instead of distributing builds in one tool, tracking bugs in another, and managing release readiness in a spreadsheet, everything lives in one place. Upload a build, create QA tasks, track blockers, run your release checklist, and ship — all without leaving the platform.

Version Lifecycle Visibility

See every version's status at a glance: Planning, Development, Testing, Ready, Released, Archived. Dashboard tabs give you instant visibility into what's in flight across your entire app portfolio. No more asking "where is version 3.2.1?" in Slack.

Store Submission Tracking

TestApp.io's Launches feature tracks your App Store and Google Play submissions through their own lifecycle — Draft, In Progress, Submitted, Released. Know exactly what's pending review at Apple or Google without checking App Store Connect or the Play Console separately.

Real-Time Collaboration

Activity feeds, threaded comments with @mentions, emoji reactions, and file attachments on every release. Your testers, developers, and product managers can discuss builds in context instead of scattering conversations across Slack threads and email chains.

Team Engagement

Role-based access control keeps permissions clean. A team leaderboard with points encourages testing participation — useful for larger teams where testing engagement can drop off.

Migration Timeline

Here's a realistic timeline for teams migrating from App Center:

• Day 1: Sign up, create organization, add apps, invite core team
• Day 1-2: Update CI/CD pipeline to use ta-cli for build uploads
• Day 2-3: Configure Slack/Teams notifications, connect Jira or Linear
• Week 1: Run first full release cycle through TestApp.io
• Week 2: Create playbook templates based on your existing release process
• Week 2-3: Migrate crash reporting and analytics to dedicated tools (parallel track)

Most teams are fully operational on TestApp.io within a week for distribution and QA. Crash reporting and analytics migration can happen on a separate, less urgent timeline.

Bottom Line

App Center's retirement is disruptive, but it's also a chance to upgrade your release workflow. App Center was a distribution and DevOps platform — it never had task management, blocker tracking, release checklists, or project management integration. Most teams were already supplementing it with three or four other tools to cover the full release cycle.

TestApp.io consolidates the distribution piece that App Center handled with the QA workflow pieces it never touched. You get a single platform that covers build distribution, task management, blocker tracking, version lifecycle, release checklists, and integration with the tools your team already uses.

The migration is straightforward — update your CI/CD upload step, invite your testers, and start shipping. Everything else (playbooks, integrations, lifecycle management) you can adopt incrementally as your team settles in.

Ready to migrate? Sign up at portal.testapp.io — free to start. Check the help center for detailed CI/CD setup guides for your specific pipeline.